Dawn Elder

For the New Zealand academic, see Dawn Elder (paediatrician).
Dawn Elder
Background information
BornSan Francisco
GenresPop, Arabic music, world
Occupation(s)Record producer, songwriter, impresario, pianist, live events/TV producer
InstrumentPiano
Years active1980s-present
LabelsDe Music, Ark 21/Mondo Melodia, CIA, Six Degrees, Universal, Virgin, Sony, etc.
WebsiteDawn Elder Management

Dawn Elder (San Francisco, California) is an American composer, pianist,[1] impresario,[1] music producer, and promoter[2] best known for her efforts to fuse Middle Eastern music with contemporary rock and pop music.[3] In the 1980s she began working as an impresario and promoter, music producer, record executive and or representative for diverse artists. She spent several years as the vice president of Ark 21/Mondo Melodia starting in 1999, and she has helped produce albums with Sting, Cheb Mami, Simon Shaheen Qantara, and Cheb Khaled. After her work at Ark 21, Elder founded Dawn Elder World Media & Entertainment Enterprises, an entertainment firm based in California.[4]

Elder has developed and directed specials by networks such as ABC, NBC, PBS, MTV, and NPR.[4] She founded the annual International Friendship Festival in California,[2] Peace Through Music, Team Up America, and several other cultural festivals and conferences in the United States.[4] In 2012 Elder co-founded the label World Harmony Studios and DE Music in Santa Barbara.[2] That year Elder brought together Voices of Afghanistan,[5] an Afghani ensemble featuring vocalist Ustad Farida Mahwash, rubab master Homayoun Sakhi, and The Sakhi Ensemble,[6] Angelique Kidjo, and other notable artists, and helped compose several tracks on the group's debut album.[7]

She was the international talent advisor to the MasterPeace concert in 2014,[8] also co-writing the Arabic adaptation of the Bob Seger song "Turn the Page," which was performed at the Concert of Colors.[9] Among other events, in 2014 and 2015 she created the concept for[10] and "masterminded" the When Music Matters concert as the finale of the larger Abu Dhabi Festival.[11] A periodic public speaker, she continues to manage and teach at the Ultimate Music and Vocal Summit, a children's vocal and music educational program she founded in 2015.[12]

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